our story
Owners Andrew Lathrop and Angela Mia Colasuonno at the farm, 2023.
After decades of living and working office jobs in NYC, we made the jump during COVID to move full time to our 200 year old home to start living our dream of a country lifestyle, restoring an old farmhouse and land, raising chickens and honey bees and growing a diverse variety of organic fruit, vegetables and flowers.
The first few years of our budding stewardship of the Lathrop family farmstead found us as novices on the farm, embarking on long weekend visits that often led to the discovery of burst pipes and aging appliances inside the house. Our outdoor ventures were equally overwhelming, with seemingly insurmountable tasks awaiting us to reclaim the neglected and overrun landscapes, gardens, and orchards. We first began crafting our hard apple ciders in the fall. Except for one year with swing top bottle explosions from too much yeast (sorry friends and family), our skill and the cider’s taste steadily improved. During late winter visits, I began tapping the ancient sugar maples planted by my ancestors. The initial batches were a far cry from perfection, but the promise of reconnecting with the land began to take root.
Transforming this place into a working farm again has been no small feat. Aside from a fallow hayfield and a two-century-old root cellar, we inherited little in the way of infrastructure. And then there was that tiny detail—neither of us possessed an iota of farming experience. Thus, we ventured into this new frontier by the seat of our pants, navigating a learning curve as steep as the long workdays themselves.
We have often said this journey unfolds like a series of small miracles and heartbreaks. We marveled at the vibrant hues of our first Swiss chard planting, only to discover it devoured by marauding deer overnight. Our well ran dry during a critical juncture in the scorching summer of 2022, yet we jubilantly celebrated our accomplishment of our organic certification. The acquisition of a modest Power King tractor with a moldboard plow proved a sod busting game-changer, but then a sudden transmission failure in our farm truck upended all manner of daily functions.
Today we currently produce over 100 varieties of certified organic fruits, flowers and vegetables as well as chestnuts, honey, maple syrup and free range heirloom eggs which are brought to market through local food hubs, schools and food pantries to benefit northeast Connecticut’s food insecure and unhoused individuals and families.
— Andrew & Mia
Mia picking peaches, 1975
Some of my fondest and earliest childhood memories are playing in my grandfather’s garden among the fig trees and tomatoes and crushing grapes to make wine in his Brooklyn brownstone cellar with my cousins and uncles. My parents and grandparents came to New York from Italy. With them came their intrinsic values of God, Family and Food— in that order. Food manifested as an expression of love, a time for joyful family celebrations based on Italian traditions and a benevolent force.
Prior to living in quiet northeast Connecticut, I spent decades working on Wall St. and living a full and fervent life in NYC. At the millenium, I took a moment to pause and opted for a sabbatical to travel solo throughout Asia, Cental and South America. A couple of months turned into 2 years of profound learning about people, humanity and countless diverse customs, cultures and religion. Time was spent exploring mostly developing countries, volunteering, scuba diving, trekking and of course, appreciating and reveling in the myriad of food markets and cuisines. Most importantly, I examined my place in the world and how I could best be of service to others in how I live and the social impact endeavors I support.
As with many, COVID provided another opportunity for reflection. My recent trading of high heels for muck boots may have been incredulous to some, but my prediliction for learning and taking on challenges is in my DNA. Life could not be more polar opposite from there to here and the Green Acres theme song is sung by many that hear our story. Today I take great pleasure in immersing myself in this new lifestyle and dynamic farming community. Growing a wide variety of organic fruit, flowers and veggies, restoring a 200 year old farm house and managing a farmstead with my husband and our many furry and feathered family members is truly a joyful journey.
We welcome all who are interested in learning about life on a farm to reach out, connect and share this adventure with us.
— Mia
Andrew at the farmstead, 1970
Growing up in 1970s California, my brothers and I reveled in idyllic summers spent at Lathrop Farm, where Granddaddy and Nonny presided over our rural haven. A sprawling 270 acres straddled both sides of a dirt road, a precious domain that, according to Granddaddy, was once inhabited by Mohegans and later acquired by early settlers from sachem Owaneco to establish the Goshen Society enclave of Lebanon, Connecticut.
Family lore wove its spell on us as we played in the hayfields, caught frogs in the pond, and explored the vast woods. Grandaddy had an unwavering commitment to preserving the family legacy— and documented his decades long research into a 4 volume family history book entitled “In This Place” telling the stories of John Lathrop’s arrival in the United States with his 13 children in 1623 and all his ancestors to the 1970’s with Grandaddy’s acquisition of the land.
Some 35 years after Granddaddy's passing, life came full circle as Mia and I found ourselves purchasing the family homestead. In the embrace of this land together, we invest our blood, sweat, and tears into this cherished family property, and as each exhausting day draws to a close, it is abundantly clear that we have indeed found our purpose here.
— Andrew